Just stupid
Seattle's Frank Chopp doesn't like Grant County or adding jobs or increasing the tax base or keeping promises.
The Democratic Speaker of the House appears to be quite stupid when it comes to tax incentives.
The state senate passed a bill to extend the deadline for data centers to buy new computer servers without paying sales tax. It would give companies looking to locate in Washington an extra year to fill newly constructed data centers or renew their equipment.
The same tax incentive was critical in Microsoft (a Washington state-based company) and Yahoo! deciding to expand their data centers, and Dell's and Sabey's decisions to break ground on new data centers in Quincy.
Three or four more companies were looking to locate in Grant County, according to the Grant County Economic Development Council.
They were working with a promise from the state to extend the deadline for another year to use the tax incentive.
Extra time helps since it takes time to construct the buildings before you can fill them with servers.
A couple of the companies proved before how it would be cheaper to close shop and build in another state without the tax incentive making their investment worth while.
Virginia's governor proved there are states more than willing to entice these companies away from Quincy, away from Washington state. They are keeping their promises and showing how much they want the businesses.
But Mr. Chopp, you broke our promise and showed them you don't care.
After the senate passed the bill, it was sent to the House to be passed. It was your decision to prevent the bill from being voted on in the House before the session ended.
Gov. Chris Gregoire publicly announced her support and was waiting to sign it.
Representatives across the aisle were ready to pass the bill to help further stimulate the economy and help the state, county and City of Quincy reap the additional new taxes data centers offer.
But Mr. Chopp didn't like it or didn't care or was too stupid to see how it would benefit a state in need of new tax revenue and jobs.
"While I can't give you the numbers, the last time we looked at data centers and we gave them the initiative, it worked beyond anybody's understanding of how it might work," said Gregoire.
This means a Democratic governor saw the benefit of the tax incentive. She saw the increase in taxes for having multi-million dollar data centers built in our state. She saw the new "green" jobs created. She saw the image of a high-tech state emerging through the creation of computer server farms. She saw the benefit.
But what happened Mr. Chopp? Why did you stall the bill and not let it come to the floor for a vote? Was it hard for you to understand how the incentive created jobs and new tax revenue beyond sales tax? Do you not like Eastern Washington? Did you think the data centers should be built on Queen Anne Hill instead of in Quincy? Just why make such a stupid decision?
On the opening day of the legislative session you gave a speech. It was a good one, but your actions are indicating you did not comprehend what you said.
"In America, we embrace change - and innovation - and reform - and energy - and action! Democracy is designed to continually re-generate and re-new our government," Chopp said in his speech. "Given our financial challenges, that renewal must move faster. For every important challenge we face, we must find a real solution. We can be inspired by positive ideals, but we must also be prepared with creative ideas, and ready for sustained, hard work over time."
Change, innovation, reform and energy savings were all available to our state. But you failed to take action. You had a real solution to increase tax revenue, add jobs and promote economic growth. The incentive is a positive ideal - creative and ready for sustained success.
So what happened?
We would use a different word than stupid to describe Mr. Chopp's decision, but so far we can't find a better one.
- Editorial board